Thanks so much for sharing the videos. I've done a LOT of reading as I have a hard to fit tall withered short backed Arab and have purchases several saddles. None are a perfect fit but I'm getting better with each one. I thought I knew quite a bit about saddle fit and just learned that I know barely enough to be dangerous LOL
Seriously great videos and thanks again!
PS it's funny when I was a kid and we had horses we never gave a thought to saddle fit! We bought cheap used saddles and if the girth fit we thought the saddle fit! Lol I remember my little sisters horse bucked the first 5 minutes she rode her and knowing what I know now i'm SURE the poor horse was in agony with every buck!! I don't know if this is a "new thing" saddle fit or if we were just too dumb to know better but I'm glad to be learning now. :)
Thank you so much for sharing these. Just brought a new saddle for myself and was concerned about fit. Haven't ridden in it, because I've wanted to ensure the fit is decent until I can get a local fitter out. Have learnt many tips from these videos to go out and check the fit on my mare again.
Was thrilled that my freaking out about fitting 4-5 fingers between wither and gullet/pommel isn't as bad as I thought - my mare has a mutton wither!
I'm sorry that they are not working :( I hope that you'll beable to, very informative!
As a matter of fact, I bought chalk today and did alot of what I was shown in the videos, and I am proud to say that my saddle is a great fit! Cept one thing...lol, it's a smidge too wide.
But with my "Corrective" half pad with shims in the front to fill in those pockets that are just around his shoulders, I am able to get 4 to 3 fingers clearance in the pommel area.
My saddle's gullet is 4 finger width, perfect! And the panels lay lovely on him, and the tree is has the right shape to it - I'm quite pleased with what I learnt!
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm no Master Saddler by far...but with what I was able to obtain from the Schleese Vids, I was able to be a smidge more educated to be more assured on the saddle fit for my guy.
Ideally, I need to get a saddle that's a bit narrower, it should be a Medium instead of a Medium Wide, but it is hard to fit him because he is A Symetrical. I've tried Mediums, but then they accomodate his withers and topline, but not his shoulders or broad back....
So I'm stuck on that part.
MIE so what type of a saddle did you go for? Did you buy your saddle from the fitter and what brand does he have? I have an wonderful older Passier and sons K Baum Greman made saddle for jumping that I really love it's fitted with flair. Im also looking for a Dressage saddle for my thoroughbred mare I also have a lovely Jefferey huntsman but it does not give enough room in the gullets between the pannels.....just wondered what you rode in a liked.
Angi
MIE so what type of a saddle did you go for? Did you buy your saddle from the fitter and what brand does he have? I have an wonderful older Passier and sons K Baum Greman made saddle for jumping that I really love it's fitted with flair. Im also looking for a Dressage saddle for my thoroughbred mare I also have a lovely Jefferey huntsman but it does not give enough room in the gullets between the pannels.....just wondered what you rode in a liked.
Angi
Hey! I ended up buying a Harry Dabbs Origional Event. I worked with 3 saddle fitters, one who works for County Saddlery, and he liked the fit of the Harry Dabbs. He doesn't push his saddles. We tried on a bunch of the saddles be brought out, but he honestly liked the fit of the HD much better than what he had.
The 2nd saddler, makes his own saddles, and he never pushed any of them on me. He brought out a truck full of saddles as well, and his equipment and he worked with us. He liked the HD as well, and that's what I went with.
The 3rd saddler, she came out this winter because I wasn't so sure about the fit of the HD anymore, and she did a full assessment. She doesn't sell saddles, just helps to make sure yours fit and if it doesn't she helps you go with a saddle that will. She too liked the fit of the HD.
Just joined the forum today and it looks like a great place to be!
I just purchased my first horse after a 12 year lay-off and I'm over the moon to have a horse in my life again. He is an amaxing 9 yr. Old QH and I love him to bits. We're slowly getting to know one another and I'm looking forward to many 'happy trails' in future.
My problem is my saddle and it doesn't seem to matter how much I centre it before cinching up, it always leans to the left once I'm on. I find myself continually shifting my weight into my right stirrup in order to get it centred again, but this only works for so long. I don't think that extra padding will solve the problem so I'm wondering if a 16" saddle would work better - my horse is a pretty solid foundation type QH.
Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Holly, I think what you are going to have to do, is contact a saddler to come to you in person to assess your horse and yourself, to beable to help you out with this problem.
It could be you, you could be leaning to the left, your horse could have less muscle development on the left side causing the saddle to rock to the left, and there could be other variabls at play here, that only someone with a trained eye could see.
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